Demountable tank for vehicles



July 18, 1939. B. F. FITCH 2,155,134

mamouu'maw TANK FOR vmucms 4 Filed Sept. 9, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 1ATTORNEYS.

July 18, 1939.

B. F. FlT CH DEMOUNTABLE TANK FOR- VEHICLES Filed Sept. 9, 1935 5Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENT OR. I

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July 18, 1939. B. F. FITCH DEMOUNTABLE TANK FOR VEHICLES 5 Sheets-Sheet3 Filed Sept. 9, 1935 0 w m m. w l I l 0 0 l l o l 2 I t w M l 1 H 9 I W5 {W1 LWLLH NJ 1 r n o Q m 0 v m H w M r l H k, H a. H w 7 NM" Ill H I va P E o 1 M W" 0 F v 0 J O 0 O1 5 m 0/ a W 9 9 W2; ATTORNEYS,

Patented UNITED STATES PATENT GFFICE 2,166,134 DEMOUNTABLE TANK FORVEHICLES This invention relates to Benjamin F.

to Motor Terminals, corporation of Ohio Fitch, Greenwich, Conn.,'

assignor Inc., Cleveland, Ohio, :1.

Application September 9, 1935, Serial No. 39,726

Claims.

9. demountable tank for vehicles, and especially to a tank which may beslid from one vehicle and another, such as from a highway truck to arailway vehicle, or

between a vehicle and a shippers platform, or

vice versa.

In my prior patent application, Serial No. 755,752, filed December 3,1934, I disclose a system of transporting freight, wherein the freightis stored in demountable containers or bodies and the latter slidsubstantially horizontally from a highway truck and to a railway car,and trans ported by the railway car to a distant point. Then the body isslid from the car to a motor vehicle,

which carries the body to whereupon the container is to the platform topermit a shippersplatform, slid from the vehicle the truck to be usedfor other purposes during unloading or loading of the body.

In the prior application mentioned, I also disclose one form of powermechanism carried by the truck for transferring or sliding the containeronto and off of the truck, together with a series of aligned guidewayson the vehicles which cooperate with supporting members or rails securedto the bottom of the container to facilitate the sliding of thecontainer from one supporting surface to another.

In extending and expanding such a system, I

have found that it is desirable to transport materials such as liquid(milk and the like) in comparatively large tanks, each tank' a containeror body unit. culties, however,

effect portation of comprising in Certain difliare encountered in thetransthese liquid commodities, which are not encountered in thetransportation of package and similar freight. For instance, the tankmust be so constructed as ners, which sterilization of the tank.

I to be devoid of sharp corwould prevent proper cleansing or This isespecially true if liquid is to be transported, such as milk. Further,there is a tendency,

during transportation of the tank, for the liquid therein to surge,thereby presenting unequalized live load distributions on the body orportation of the tank on the vehicle.

during the trans- In the tank frame case of a tank to contain milk, forexample, it is also important that the tank be handled in such a manneras will not crack off even minute particles from the interior surface,which might contamin'ate the contents.

The ,general object of the present invention,

therefore, is to provide a tank for liquid containers which will beefficient tended and for the purpose inwill overcome the difficultiesabove pointedout, but which may be used interchangeably with a packagefreight container now being utilized in my system on existing highwayand railway equipment.

Another object of the present invention is to 5 provide a tank or liquidcontainer which may be economically manufactured and which will be oflight weight so as to eliminate excessive tariff on the containeritself, but which, at the same time, will be strong and durable, to theend that it may withstand the shock and rough usage to which it is putduring its transportation on highway and railway vehicles, and duringthe movement of the container from one supporting surface way truck to arailway car.

Other objects of the present invention will become more apparent fromthe following specification, reference being had to theaccompanyingdrawings, which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention, theessential novel features of the invention will be set forth in theclaims.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 illustrates a side elevation of my demountabletank, positioned on a railway car, ready for transferring to a truckstanding adjacent thereto; Fig. 2 illustrates the container having beentransferred from the car into position on the truck; Fig. 3 is a planview of a truck and railway car, positioned for the transfer of acontainer from the railway car to the truck; Fig. 4 is a fragmentarysectional view on an enlarged scale, the plane of the section beingindicated by the lines 4-4 on Fig. 3; Fig.

5 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevation of the body, the scale beingsubstantially the same as that of Fig. 5; Fig. 6 is a sectional detail,the plane of the section being indicated by the lines 6-6 on Fig. 5;Fig. 7 is a fragmentary vertical section, as indicated by the lines l-'Ion Fig. 6;, Fig. 8 is a transverse section, as indicated by the lines8-8 on Fig. 7; Fig. 9 is a plan of the cradle without the tank; Fig. 10is a sectional detail thereof, indicated by the line l0-l0 on Fig. 9;Fig. 11 is a detail of the anchorage of the pushand-pull bar to thecradle, being a vertical section in the plane indicated by the line H-l|on Fig. 6; Fig. 12 is a detail of the same in section in the planeindicated by the line l2-l2 on Fig.

Briefly, as shown in Figs. 1 to 3, inclusive, A indicates a railway car,B a highway truck, C bridges pivotally carried by the truck at its rearend and adapted to be attached to the side of the car, D a tank for theliquid, and E a cradle to another, as, for instance, from a high- 15'supporting the tank and having at its bottom supporting rails to adaptit to slide in ways on the highway truck, bridges or car. Such wayscomprise upwardly facing channels b, c, a on the truck, bridges and, carrespectively. Suitable mechanism on the truck is adapted to propel thecradle and tank along the ways in either direction. This mechanism may,for instance, comprise longitudinal sprocket chains F on the truck andbridges driven by a suitable electric motor 1 on a truck connected byreduction gearing indicated at fl, shafts and sprocket wheels with thechains. Suitable push-and-pull bars G, temporarily attached to thechains and cradle, enable the motor to shift the cradle and tank.

The upwardly facing guiding channels a on the car (of which there'arepreferably several pairs) have flaring side walls, as shown in Fig. 4,and may be in the form of plates which have flanges slidable beneathflxed plates on the car floor, and there may be interposed resilientblocks or springs cl between the side walls of the channels and the carfloor to provide a shock absorber between the cradle and car, thusmaterially reducing the effect on the cradle and tank of sudden jars instarting and stopping of the train.

Referring now to Figs. 1 to .5, inclusive, the tank D is shown as ahorizontal body of approximately elliptical form in vertical crosssection but with side portions vertical and the usual outwardly bowedends. This body may have an outer metal shell (2, an insulating liningdi and an inner facing d2, which is sometimes of vitreous material andsometimes of stainless steel.

The tank rests on a set of bolsters III which are connected together" bylongitudinal beams H, which parts, together with the other features tobe mentioned, constitute the cradle E, heretofore mentioned. Thebolsters ID are of inverted channel shape, having a top web l2 andvertical flanges l3. ,The upper face of the bolsters for the most partis in the same arc as the underface of the tank, but near the ends thetop web l2 extends horizontally, as shown at 15. The vertical flanges inthe intermediate region I terminate horizontally at the bottom, as atI6,

and then near the extreme portions is inclined upwardly as at H, exceptthat the extreme end where the bottom edge extends outwardlyhorizontally as indicated at I8. The side members H are inwardly facingchannels with their Webs vertical and their flanges horizontal and thetwo flanges extend snugly over the extreme portion l5 of the top web ofthe bolsters and the extreme portion I8 of the flanges, and areefiectively secured to such parts, preferably by welding. This makes acomparatively'light and at the same timerigid cradle on which the tankmay rest.

The tank is firmly secured on the cradle on i which it rests by a seriesof metal straps 20,

which extend in U-shape over the top of the tank and down the sides andpass through the flanges of the side members II and the bolsters. Thesestraps at their lower ends are threaded and carry nuts 2| by which thestraps are drawn.

' tightly onto the tank.

To provide for supporting the cradle in a manner enabling it to be slid,as heretofore mentioned, without materially raising the center ofgravity of the tank or weakening the effective strength of the cradle, Inotch the webs of each bolster adjacent their deepest portions, that is,in the region. where the inclined bottom edge Joins the horizontalbottom edge, and insert in horizontal edge flanges 33. Mounted in thedownwardly facing notches provided by these channel-shaped plates 30 isa pair of long channel beams 40, extending the length of the cradle andformed in cross-section similarly to the plates 30 but suflicientlynarrower so that it may snugly nest within the'various plates 30, asindicated in Fig. 8. These downwardly facing channels 40 are securedeffectively to the members 30, as for instance by welding. At each endthe beams are braced by a channel-shaped horizontal cross beam 44, theflanges of which overlap the tops and bottoms of the beams 40 and aresecured to them.

Directly below the downwardly facing channel beams 40 are correspondingupwardly facing channel beams 50. The vertical side flanges of thesebeams 50 lie directly beneath the side flanges of the beams Ml. At theirupper ends the beams 50 are flanged outwardly horizontally at 5|directly beneath the flanges 4| of the beams Ml. While the flanges 4iand 5| are secured together, I prefer to effect such securing only ad-These channel shaped plates 30, as ining of the channels 40, withoutdisturbing the true condition of the channels 50. If desired, however,the flanges ll and Si could engage each other and be riveted directlytogether throughout their length.

The hollow downwardly facing channel 40 and the hollow upwardly facingchannel 50 together provide a light and at the same time very effectivesupport for the other members of the cradle and hence for the tank.These hollow channels also provide housings for mechanism to lock thecradle to the car or truck. I may employ for this purpose lockingmechanism similar to that shown, described and claimed in my priorapplication 755,752, heretofore mentioned. Combined with the lockingmechanism is means for preventing injury to the parts by the applicationof moving power when the cradle is locked. This mechanism may be similarto that shown, described and claimed in my copending.

application 32,130, filed July 18th, 1935. These mechanisms areillustrated herein, particularly in Figs. 6,.1, 8, 11 and 12, and willnow be described.

The locking ofthe body to the truck or car is efiected by hooks 60pivotally mounted in horizontal axes within the channel beams 50 andextending downwardly through openings 6| in the bottom web's'of. suchbeams, One of these hooks is shown in Fig. 7 and there is acorresponding hook facing the opposite direction similarly locatedadjacent the other end of the cradle, as shown in Fig. 5. Hence, thesehooks, when in the position shown in Figs. 7 and effectively lock thecradle and tank to the vehicle.

To operate the hooks 60 simultaneously I provide within the cradlechannels 40, a rotatable This shaft is shown in Fig. '7 with aright-hand screw thread for operating the hook 50 and is likewiseprovided near the other end of the cradle with a left-hand screw threadfor operating the other hook, not shown in that figure. Suitable nuts65, of which one is shown in Fig. '7, engage the respective threads.Each nut has a downwardly projecting lug 66 which extends into a notch61 carried by the corresponding hook 66.

It will be seen that the rotation of the shaft 62 will serve to rock thetwo hooks oppositely on their pivots so that they may be swung to eninthe truck or car channels or bygage keepers the opposite movement to befreed therefrom. I may readily rotate the shaft 62 by the insertion inalignment therewith of the tubular shank 58 of a removable crank 59,this crank having a notched end Hi adapted to straddle a pin H on theshaft 62. A suitable sleeve 13 carried by the web of the end beam 44 ofthe channel beam as may form an effective guide for the crank shank.

The means heretofore referred to for preventing the inadvertentapplication of moving force to the cradle when it is locked isillustrated in Figs, 6, 11 and 12, and comprises a socket secured to theend beam M, which forms the caps for the beams All, such socket beingadapted to receive the end of the push-and-pull bar, or a block forpreventing admission to the socket when the cradle is locked to thevehicle, as about to be described.

The socket til has a substantially spherical cavit but the entrancethereto is substantially rectangular. The push-and-pull bar G has afiattened round head, which is adapted to be inserted through therectangular opening and thereafter lock the socket by giving the bar aquarter axial turn. To prevent such admission of the pushand -pull barwhen the cradle is locked, I provide a block at slidable horizontallyacross the socket 8t and connected by a rod ill to a bracket 92 attachedto the corresponding nut 65. These parts are so arranged that as the nuttravels in swinging the hook into locking position this same movementautomatically causes the rod 9! to move outwardly so that the block 90comes into the opening 3! of the socket and closes it at the same timethat the hook on the cradle engages the keeper on the vehicle.

The guide for the block 90 may readily be a portion of a casting whichalso forms the socket til. 'I'o connectthe rod ill with the nut 65 it isvery convenient to make the bracket $2 in the form of an angle plate,the vertical flange of which is pivotally connected with the rod M,while the horizontal flange t3 extends slidably between the'flanges 5iand iii of the channels and in its mid-region has secured to it anextensiont l of the nut.

The simple mechanism described prevents the attachment of thepush-and-pull bar whenever the cradle with its tank is locked in placeand accordingly there can be no straining of the parts by applyingmoving power to the cradle when it is locked. The same mechanism alsoprevents setting of the lock when the push-and-pull bar is in place. Theend of the block 90 being readily visible at the side of the containerwhen the container is locked form a very convenient indicator ortell-tale to inform the attendant of the locked condition.

-iace' of body skid rail The leverage applied by the nut and screw unitsto the locking hooks suifices for manual centering of body if perchanceit is not accurately located in looking position by conveyor chains.Such leverage makes possible the locking of body securely to either car,trailer or truck, thereby preventing, particularly on car, any lateralmovement of body when the car, say is going around short radiuscurvatures, which setup lateral movement which might tend to develop aforce for lock snubbing, if the locks were not entirely engaged. On theother hand, when locks are fully engaged no movement between frictionsurpossible, by reason of the perfect alignment thereof and,resultingly, the tight engagement of locks.

It will be seen from the description given that by this invention I haveprovided a very simple, light and strong cradle which may effectivelycarry a tank and allow the same to be slid by the application ofsuitable mechanism to or from the vehicle. The construction adds littleweight to the weight of the tank itself. It is so arranged that it doesnot raise the center of gravity of the tank materially above what itwould have if tank bolsters rested directly on the car floor. At thesame time it provides for the efficient sliding of the tank to or fromthe vehicle and for its effective locking to the vehicle.

I claim:

- 1. The combination with a tank of a cradle supporting the samecomprising transverse bolsters of inverted channel shape, longitudinalside beams of channel shape withthe webs vertical and the flangeshorizontal, said flanges extending over the extreme portions of thebolsters and secured thereto, straps extending over the top of the tankand depending through the flanges 01 the side channels, and means fordrawing the straps taut over the tank;

2. The combination with a tank of bolsters beneath. the same, extendingtransversely of the tank and supporting it, said bolsters havingdownwardly opening notches therein, downwardly facing longitudinalchannel beams occupying the notches of successive bolsters, upwardlyfacing channel beams beneath the downwardly facing channel beams securedthereto to form skid rails for the bolsters and tank.

3. A cradle for supporting a tank comprising parallel bolsters ofinverted channel shape, said bolsters having their webs formed to engagethe tank and their flanges terminating intermediately in a horizontalbottom plane and near the ends in upwardly inclined planes, downwardlyfacing notches formed in the flanges adjacent thejunction of thehorizontal and inclined planes respectively, hollow supporting beams setinto said notches and secured to the bolsters, and side beams in theform of inwardly facing channels with their flanges extending across thetop of. the web and the lower edge of the flanges respectively.

4. A tank and supporting cradle structure, comprising parallel bolstersoi inverted channel shape, said bolsters having their webs formed toengage the tank and flanges terminating intermediately in a horizontalplane and near the ends in an upwardly inclined plane, said tankextending across the bolsters and resting thereon,'the webs of thebolsters and the bottom edges of the flanges being substantiallyhorizontal at, the extreme ends of the -bolsters, and side beams in theform of inwardly facing channels with their and car anchorage rail is.

flanges extending across the top of the web and the lower edges of theflanges respectively.

5. The combination of a tank, bolsters extending cross-wise .of the tankon its under side and supporting the tank, said bolsters havingdownwardly facing notches therein, longiudinal beams occupying thenotches and having lateral flanges at their lower edges, skid rails inthe form. of channel beams facing upwardly with flanges at their topsthe flanges of the skid rails being directly beneath and secured to thefianges'of the longitudinal beams.

BENJAMIN F. FITCH.

